Unsung heroes #1 ....TRAIL THE MOB

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is: Who do you feel is overlooked in graff history? Usually I answer: MITCH 77, NIC 707 , PADRE 2, COST/PALO and SILVER TIPS to name a few. I’d like to be less than objective and big up a member of my own crew. When I met this cat in ‘73 in our Riverdale neighborhood he was writing ZAP 231 and I was writing TARANTULA 235 with a little spider icon embellishment. By 1974 he changed his name to LOCUST 2 and then ....TRAIL. The series of dots preceding his “T” were meant to emulate a little trail . Although we started together , he quickly surpassed me in style (not too hard!!) From 1974 he evolved from doing primitive pieces with RICE 2 to becoming a legit tag style master- a pre-cursor to ZEPHYR in many ways. .He owned the insides on the ones in ‘75 . His clean piecing style with readable plain letters and perfect fill-ins were an emulation of ALE 1, his idol from the 2’s and 5’s. He became the first vice-president of THE MOB in 1975 and vanished by 1976. We didn’t have the foresight to photograph our stuff back then. Luckily our boy UNI caught this one from 1975 before the buff did. Where were Henry and Martha when we needed them?

This black book gem from my collection blows my mind even today—bubble letter perfection with Richie Rich in full effect and a “T” borrowed from TRACY 168. Immaculate tag style evident as he throws up tags for:
KROME 100, KT3 (king of the outsides at the time), TANX 2 (First president of THE MOB) and The crews WANTED and AVEN… (Abbreviation for AVENGERS).